Education ministry no longer has an Appeals Board: Minister

Listen to this article:

Minister for Education Rosy Akbar (left) with Opposition member of parliament Ro Teimumu Kepa during a break of parliament on Tuesday, February 12, 2019. Picture: RAMA

FIJI’S Ministry of Education no longer has an Appeals Board to which teachers can lodge their appeals.

Minister for Education Rosy Akbar revealed this in Parliament last week in response to a question by Opposition MP Ro Teimumu Kepa who had asked whether there was a Teacher’s Appeals Board in the ministry where teachers could lodge their appeals for any disciplinary action.

The minister said there was a Disciplinary Staff Board, which was dissolved at the end of 2016 because it did not comply with the constitutional authority of the permanent secretary.

“My ministry, like all ministries, is now bound by the disciplinary guidelines which came into effect in January 2017. These guidelines were updated in December 2018,” Ms Akbar said.

“The disciplinary guidelines aim to bring in positive discipline which requires an approach to correct behaviour and ensure adherence to the Civil Service Values and Code of Conduct.

“These we do by improving poor performance where the employees are given an opportunity to improve to an interactive process and ensuring that any disciplinary action which may be undertaken is prompt, transparent, fair, impartial, consistent and made with the employee’s understanding if the issue reported relates to the Code of Conduct.”

Ms Akbar told Parliament that all disciplinary processes incorporated the principle of natural justice that procedures and any related-decisions were fair and reasonable and the employee had a right to be heard.

She said the employee was informed of the details of the allegation in writing, provided with the opportunity to respond to the allegations to the appointed panel, and was also given the opportunity to have support person present during the investigation.

The minister noted Section 127 of the Constitution that empowered the permanent secretary of each ministry with the authority to appoint, remove, and institute disciplinary action against any staff member of the ministry with the agreement of the minister responsible.

She said the disciplinary guidelines were also aligned to this provision of the Constitution.

“Should an employee wish to appeal against the decision made by the permanent secretary, with the argument of the minister, he or she can appeal to the Employment Relations Tribunal or court, as the case maybe. They may also seek mediation to the Minister of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations.

“The other option available to the permanent secretary is to refer a case to the Public Service Disciplinary Tribunal (PSDT) in line with Section 120 of the Constitution.

“The PSDT is empowered to hear and determine disciplinary cases referred by the permanent secretary. This is complementary to the powers of the permanent secretary, in that, the PSDT can institute other forms of disciplinary actions such as a fine or a demotion which the permanent secretary cannot institute.

“When an employee wishes to appeal against the sanction, they may follow the grievance procedures under the Employment Relations Act and the decision of the PSDT as reviewed by the High Court.”

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 28
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)

No Posts found for specific category